Caster



( Moqel.)

E. R. MERRIAM.

(EASTER.

Patented Sept. 12, 1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EZEKIEL n. MERRIAM, 0F MERIDEN, coNNEcrIc'UT.

CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 264,094, dated September 12, 1882.

Application filed May 21, 1881. (1101101.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EZEKIEL R. MERRIAM, of Meriden, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, a citizen of the United States, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Casters, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining its nature, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective of a caster containing my improvement. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is an end elevation thereof. Fig. 4 is a vertical section; Fig. 5, a cross-section on the line 00 a; of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a detail view, representing the old method of con' struction.

This invention has for its object the hereinafter-described method of fastening the pintle plate or disk to the pintle of the caster, and also the providing ot' the pintle with one or more barbs, by which it is fastened or held in place in the article to which the caster is attached, and consists generally in the novel ararrangement of the parts to form a light, durable, and easily-constructed caster, which can be sold at a very moderate price.

In the drawings, a is the pintle, enlarged at a, and having a head, a, at its lower end.

b is the horn, of usual shape, and c the roll.

at is the plate or disk, which, when fastened to the pintle, prevents it from falling through tliehorn.

6 represents the projecting or displaced portions of the pintle, which lap upon the upper surface of the disk or plate sufficiently to lock it upon or against the enlarged portion a. The

metal of the pin may be displaced by being pressed or squeezed, as it were, so that a portion of its surface shall be displaced, or by heingprick-punched, or by being displaced in any other manner, so that one or more portions shall lap upon the plate or disk.

Tile pintle is further provided with one or more wings, f, which are formed on the exterior thereof, near the upper end, by pressure, and which preferably are inclined from the top outwardly and downwardly, as represented.- These fins or wings are sufficiently sharp on their outer edge to cut their way into the wood surrounding the hole in which the pintle is held, and by slightly turning the pintle as it is being forced into its hole the wings' or fins will not take a direct vertical movement, but a somewhat inclined movement, thereby, when I the pintle has been inserted, more efi'ectually preventing it from falling out by the wings following the grooves which they have made in being driven in. By slightly turning the pintle after it has been inserted in itshole the same result is obtained. These fins or wings fare made in a line with the smaller fins or raised parts 6, the object being to so form the upper and lower fins that the lower ones will follow and fill the holes made in the wood by the upper ones. The fins are also pinched up or pressed from the circumference of the surface of the pintle-stem. The pintle,- being round, tillsthe hole made in thewoodenleginto which it is inserted, while the fins at the top and bottom securelyhold the pintle and the caster attached to it in place.

.I am aware that caster shanks or pintles have been made with notches and serrated grooves; but this weakens the pintle, and itis more costly than my construction. Besides, it cannot be removed and again inserted in the same hole without great difliculty, if at all. Spiral grooves have been made, and screwthreads have been formed on the pintle; but all these constructions are expensive to make and all weaken the pintle, and some of them are apt to work loose by the twisting and turning of the caster-wheel and saddle. In this part of my invention 1 make no claim to either of these forms of construction, but desire to confine myself to fins formed upon the circumference of the pintle of the metal of the pintle itself near the top and bottom.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- A caster having a round solid metal pintle, a, with a head, a formed on the bottom, and with an enlarged bearing, a, near and above the head, the top of said bearing forming a shoulder and the upper end of said pintle provided with the finsf, in combination with the bracket or born 1), adapted to hold a casterwheel and to fit the enlarged bearing a of the pintle, and held in position by the collar d, resting upon the shoulder of the bearing a above the horn b, said collar being secured to the pintle by the fins c, all substantially as and for the purposes described.

EZEKIEL R. MERRIAM.

Witnesses:

H. H. WHITE, FRANKLIN PLATT. 

